Curiocity: In Pursuit of London

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When a spider travels, it always has four legs touching the ground and four legs off the ground at any given moment. [16] Book 2 – Chapter 3: On the seven climes and their conditions, the lands beyond the equator and the lands at the edge of the northern boundary Spider legs use hydraulic pressure to move • A spider’s muscles pull its legs inward, but cannot extend its legs out again. Instead, it must pump a watery liquid into its legs to push them out. A dead spider’s legs are curled up because there is no fluid to extend the legs again. [12] The geographical focus of the Book of Curiosities is Muslim commercial centres of the 9 th-to 11 th-century eastern Mediterranean, such as Sicily, the textile-producing town of Tinnis in the Nile Delta, and Mahdiyah in modern Tunisia. The author is equally acquainted with Byzantine-controlled areas of the Mediterranean, such as Cyprus, the Aegean Sea, and the southern coasts of Anatolia. The author’s occasional use of Coptic terms and Coptic months, together with the allegiance to the Fatimid caliphs based in Cairo, suggest Egypt as a likely place of production. Abandoned spider webs are called “cobwebs.” The word “cob” is an obsolete word meaning “spider” and is a shortened form of the Old English word attercop, which literally means “poison head.” Etymologists see a connection between cob for spider and cob for corn in that a cob of corn means the “head” or “top” of the corn. [14]

When acquired by the Bodleian Library, the volume was contained in an Ottoman binding of, possibly, 18 th or 19 th century date; the binding was too small for the manuscript and in extremely poor condition. The first folio of the manuscript has staining which indicates that an earlier binding included an envelope flap. At present, the volume is disbound with the binding removed and stored separately. The conservation laboratories of the Bodleian Library will ultimately rebound manuscript and give it a new binding meeting modern standards of preservation and conservation. The Darwin bark spider creates the strongest material made by a living organism. Their giant webs can span rivers, streams, and even lakes and is 10 times stronger than Kevlar. [4] Some tarantulas will fling tiny, irritating hairs, known as urticating hairs, to thwart predators—similar to the way a porcupine uses its quills as defense. [11] The thing is, no one is quite sure. However, you might get one of two answers. Either could be true.a b c d e f g h i j Rapoport, Yossef; Savage-Smith, Emilie (2018). Lost Maps of the Caliphs. University of Chicago Press. doi: 10.7208/chicago/9780226553405.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-226-54088-7. At the furthest edges, even the boundaries between human and vegetable begin to dissolve: On a distant island in the Indian Ocean grow the Waq-Waq trees, which bear fruits in the shape of plump, curvaceous women who constantly scream “waq waq!” The brown recluse gets its name from its color and its "shy" nature • The bite of the brown recluse spider, which is found in the southeastern United States, is particularly dangerous because its bite is initially painless. A person may be bitten without realizing it, but after awhile the skin starts to swell and become incredibly painful. A bite could kill a person if not treated. [1] The Viewing is a terrifyingly great entry in this horror collection on Netflix. (Image credit: Ken Woroner/Netflix) Book 2 – Chapter 10: On the Western Sea, that is the Syrian Sea, its harbours, islands and anchorages

The word “spider” comes from the Old English word spithra and is related to the German spinne, both of which mean “spinner.” The word “spinster” is also related and means “one who spins thread.” [14] While the chapters containing the maps are not known to be preserved in later copies or incorporated into other treatises, portions of Book 1 (on celestial matters) of the Book of Curiosities, as well as the first chapter of Book 2 (on the measurement of the earth) are found in five unillustrated manuscripts (all much later copies) of treatises having the same title ( Ghara’ib al-funun wa-mulah al-‘uyun) but slightly differing contents. These sections of Book I, and the first chapter of Book 2, are preserved in Cairo, Dar al-Kutub, miqat MS 876, fols. 1a-18b copied in 1641 [1051 H]; in Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS & 76 sup., folios 2a-67b; and also partially in a manuscript written in Karshuni (Arabic in Syriac script) and now in the Bodleian Library (MS Bodl. Or. 68, fols. 37a-143b). Of these three manuscripts, the one in Milan is closest in content to the first book of the Bodleian Library manuscript, but all three manuscripts proved useful in editing various portions of Book I. Two other copies are recorded as being in Mosul and in Algiers, but they were unavailable for comparison. While humans have muscles on the outside of their skeleton, spiders have muscles on the inside. A spider’s skeleton, or exoskeleton, covers and protects its muscles. [12] The treatise was almost certainly composed before 1050. The tribal group of the Banu Qurrah are mentioned in chapter 6 of Book 2 as inhabiting the lowlands near Alexandria. As the Banu Qurrah are known to have been banished from the region of Alexandria by the Fatimid authorities in 1051–1052, it is very likely that this treatise was written before that date. Since Sicily is described as being under Muslim rule, the treatise could definitely not have been composed later than the Norman invasion of Sicily in 1070.Book 1 – Chapter 7: On obscure stars with drawn lances (?) in the ninth heaven, which have immense favorable and malevolent influences Spiders have inspired scientists to make space robots. For example, the “Spidernaut” is a mechanical spider that is designed to crawl over the outside of a spacecraft to carry out repairs. Its weight is spread evenly over its eight legs to avoid damaging the surface of the spacecraft. Scientists have also designed miniature pieces of equipment with parts that move just like a spider’s leg. [10] The bird-dropping spider gets its name because it looks like bird poo. This type of camouflage prevents birds from eating it. [8] Johns, Jeremy, ‘Una nuova fonte per la geografia e la storia della Sicilia nell’XIo secolo: il Kitab Ghara’ib al-funun wa-mulah al-‘uyun’, Mélanges de l’École française de Rome (Moyen Âge), vol. 116 (2004), 409-449. Boxe, Agata. “ Spider-Man: 5 Weird Effects of Spider Bites.” Live Science. May 2, 2014. Accessed: January 23, 2015.

The tower itself is Elizabeth Tower, and it’s the huge bell inside that’s called Big Ben. Why Big Ben? Well, it’s really big! In fact, the bell of Big Ben weighs over 13 tonnes. Roxani, Margariti Eleni; Sabra, Adam; Sijpesteijn, Petra M., eds. (2011-01-01). Histories of the Middle East. doi: 10.1163/ej.9789004184275.i-282. ISBN 9789004214736. With the manuscript disbound for conservation purposes, the exhibition of its numerous illustrations became possible. The circular world map in the manuscript was chosen by the National Art Collections Fund (one of the major contributors toward the acquisition of the manuscript) for display on the occasion of the exhibition Saved! 100 years of the National Art Collections Fund, held at the Hayward Gallery, London (23 October 2003-18 January 2004) [4].

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Although usually extremely accurate, Big Ben has slipped up a couple of times with its timekeeping. Spider webs contains vitamin K, which assists in reducing bleeding • Hundreds of years ago, people put spider webs on their wounds because they believed it would help stop the bleeding. Scientists now know that the silk contains vitamin K, which helps reduce bleeding. [2] Spiders can’t fly, but they sometimes sail through the air on a line of silk, which is known as “ballooning.” [8]

While most spiders build a new web every day, the web of the gold orb can last several years and can even catch birds. [8] Most spiders’ fangs are like pincers that move sideways toward each other to bite. Others, such as bird-eating spiders, have long fangs that point straight down. [10] Known as the Ayrton light, the green lantern above Big Ben shines whenever parliament is in session.

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For similar Islamic papers, see Helen Loveday, Islamic Paper: A Study of the Ancient Craft (London, 2001). Some species of jumping spiders can see light spectrums that humans cannot. Some can see both UVA and UVB light. [11] This map is different from others in The Book of Curiosities because it is a stand-alone map. Not only does it take up all of the second chapter, but it conveys information independent of a complementary text, which almost always accompanies other maps in the book. [4] It is also unique due to its rectangular shape, which differs from previous medieval world maps which were circular. [1] Rapoport, Yossef, ‘The Book of Curiosities: A Medieval Islamic View of the East’, in Andreas Kaplony and Phillip Forêt (eds.), The Journey of Maps and Images on the Silk Road (London: Routledge), forthcoming.